Sunday was our official last full in the city of  Wollongong. As we did not have classes or events lined up by the TAFE school, all the students decided to do several activities together. My sweet home-stay Mom, Kate gave me a ride to the train station as several of us decided to to visit Sydney. Now we were going to Sydney the next day, but we all wanted to go to the Aquarium, which was not in our schedule.

The aquarium was super amazing! I was like a kid again. I love fish. My father had over 30 tanks and raised fish to sell so I am an addict in a good sense. Walking the corridors with water-filled tanks over our head filled me with awe. Such beauty, creatures that I only have seen on TV now were in front on me.

Next, Rae and I walked to the Chinese Friendship Garden.  We then walked through the garden taking pictures and building a friendship. I asked her questions about this and that. She kindly answered and shared her gift of photography. We had much to cover, but it was difficult to leave. There were Chinese structures, waterfalls, rocks that told stories. One could spend a day just there. However, we had our plan, so on we went. We now backtracked past the Aquarium around about getting lost a few times. We made it to the Circular Quay, yeah! There was a market called The Rocks that is only on the weekends and we could not miss it. They offer items made by Australian artists. We were two peas in a pod. We wove back and forth through the market place. I would think I had lost Rae in the hustle and bustle, only to hear her call my name. Rae was a trooper. She took many more fabulous pictures. I kept to the inside, coward that I was.

On the way back to Wollongong from Sydney, I messaged Kate my home-stay Mom to ask where the best place to have pizza was and to see if she had eaten or was hungry. She told me she was MAKING pizza! She even was coming to pick me up, bless her heart. I missed my train stop on the way back and had spent some extra time circling back to the right station, but oh man, Kate was understanding and joked with me about it on the way home. Do not worry, she said, her friend was at the house to have dinner with us and he would take out the pizza, ummm, no. He was deep in thought, reading a book, and the pizzas were burning! They still good tasted after such a long day.

This trip has been one I never even dream I would be able to go on, and yet I was was not only able to see how my field of study worked on this side of the world, experience an amazing culture, and see two wonderful cities in Wollongong and Sydney Australia. Thank you all for making it one for the ages.

Theresa Michaelis

After a week of hectic schedules and sitting in on classes pertaining to our individual program areas, we were rewarded with free time to explore the region in ways that appealed to us individually.

One group of students headed to Otford to horseback ride through the rain forest, others arranged to meet up with TAFE students in their program area to spend the day sight seeing together, while yet another spent the day recharging herself in the peaceful setting of the Nan Tien Buddhist temple.

Beatrice Stitch and I decided to spend the day together going where the wind blew us. After spending time basking in the glory of a beautiful 300 + tree (which Beth and I identified as a Magnolia), our first stop was a local florist shop. It was a lovely store full of wonderful displays and friendly employees. I asked one of them by the name of Ash where a good place was to visit along the train line and she suggested a heritage town by the name of Berry, so we agreed to make that our destination for the day. After a few pit stops to a local Op Shop (thrift store), a Hallmark store and a souvenir shop, we found ourselves navigating the train line on our way to Berry.

The beautiful rural town of Berry is famous for its gardens, trees, arts and crafts, antiques and markets and was as cute as a button and full of history. Berry is named after the explorer Alexander Berry who took up land grants becoming the first white settler in the Shoalhaven area. Sadly, the historical museum was already closed by the time we had arrived.

As we walked from the train station towards the town center, we happened to run into William Shakespeare! After taking advantage of the photo opportunity, we made our way to town to power shop! We only had two hours to browse as many shops as we could before everything shut down at 4:00. We did manage to see the entire town center, learn some of the local history, and get back on the train to Wollongong with sacks full of treasures to put smiles on the faces of our loved ones back home and precious memories in our hearts.

Sheri Talaga

The GTC students do not have formal classes at TAFE today, but that does not we will not be busy.  The day started with the morning trip to the campus canteen. We are going to miss their excellent coffee and breakfast items.   The bus loaded at 9AM for a day of adventures at Shellharbour which is south of Wollongong.  The first destination was the Farm Beach.  Seven people from our group were going surfing at the Pines Surf Academy.  Being from Wisconsin, it appears they practiced their moves on solid ground first.  Then it was off to the waves in this little cove beach.  These waves move pretty fast, but GTC students can do just about anything, and Chinedu did not do bad either.  There were many smiles and stories to tell after this adventure. Our on site photographer (Beatrice) captured it all.

There were activities for the non surfers also.  SHOPPING at the Shellharbour Mall.  Since the seasons were changing it was a good time snag some bargains.  Then it was back to the  beach to pick up our surfers and return to the TAFE Shellharbour Campus for lunch.   The TAFE food service students once again provided a delightful lunch.  Then GTC students video conferenced with our new friends; the students and teachers that will be visiting GTC in October….yes, just 5 weeks away.  Questions were answered about WI and GTC.  Everyone is excited about this visit!

A farewell ceremony awarded participation certificates to the GTC students.  It was not a dry eye event, as many friendships were made and such knowledge gained in such a short period of time.

But the day was not over yet.  The program listed an Aboriginal Cultural Experience with Glenn Duffield who is an artist; in both painting and music.  We expected a lecture but it was to be a hands on experience. Duff as he is known passed around some of his art work.  It was beautiful.  Then he passed around some smaller paintings and explained that it only takes him 10 minutes to make them and he was going to help us create our own.  It took us more than 10 minutes; an hour was allowed.  Everyone did great with their own personal creations which were dingos or kangaroos in the bush.

Thank you was extended to the main program organizers, Catherine and Allison.  We returned to TAFE main campus after an exhausting but productive day.

Cathy Brnak, Horticulture student

Our journey began with five enthusiastic horticulture students being dropped off early at TAFE’s Yallah campus. We were greeted by our new friend “Cliff”. He is a beautiful Australian cattle dog and mascot of the Horticulture dept. It was a beautiful winter day here around 60 degrees. The smell of eucalyptus oil in the air adorned with lavender filled the air.

We had quite the exciting day today.  This morning we went to our respective classes, and returned to Wollongong campus for lunch.  I am not going to say what was done during our classes, as I do not know the details of what other program areas did, but I hear they had a great day.

After lunch, we went to Symbio Wildlife park.  It was a bit of a drive north (but not bad).  During the drive, we drove across the curvy bridge next to a cliff that we see in a lot of car commercials.  At Symbio we saw so many animals (most of which are native to Australia).  We were able to get pretty close to some Koala and kangaroos.   These are the two animals most people were interested in seeing.  The kangaroos were very calm around us, I think it’s because we had food for them.  So many kangaroos were gathered together in one area, making for great photo opportunities.

After leaving Symbio, we drove back toward Wollongong and made a stop at Bald Hill.  We were able to take fantastic pictures with the beach and mountain in the background.

It is so great to see the excitement that everyone has about all of the activities that have been planned for us.  There are so many more experiences to come.  It just great to see.

I’m thankful and glad that we had to opportunity to go out for dinner with Catherine tonight. It was wonderful food (even though there were a few mishaps).

Jessica VanNess

I headed out early in the morning from my host family’s house, making my way for the free bus that would take me to TAFE. The air was still cool and crisp, the sun rising slowly bringing with it all of the activities that were planned for the day. It was going to be a long, but exciting day.

We all met at the school, but would quickly disperse to our respective academic areas of study: business, engineering, horticulture and nursing. This was the first day we would begin our program studies at the college and we were all eager to get started. I traveled by bus with my fellow classmates to the agricultural Yallah Campus that sits on 72 hectares. We attended class with the students in the arboriculture program where we learned about tree risk assessment. After class we went into the field to use our new knowledge to perform our own assessments.

After a lovely lunch that was prepared for us by the school, we then made our way to Port Kembla for our industry visit with BlueScope Steel. In business since 1915, they produce steel plates and rolled coil for building and construction. Safety is a high priority and taken very seriously, so we were all given personal protective gear to wear, including helmets, eyeglasses and gloves. Traveling through the plant on the bus, we all became fully aware of the enormity of the plant. It is so large that it has its own power plant on site, providing 25 percent of its power. Once we arrived at the building housing multiple Basic Oxygen Steelmaking furnaces, we climbed up four stories to get a glimpse of the vessel that would melt iron and scrap steel down into what looked like lava. The massive cauldron spit out sparks as giant imposing flames battled to escape. Once melted down, the vessel is tipped over and the liquid steel is molded into slabs. The heat from it penetrates right through you as you stand in awe at the magnitude of the whole production. It is a sight to be seen.

After all the excitement from our days activities, we were in for a real treat as we all arrived back at TAFE’s Twenty Twenty Restaurant for our welcome dinner and fundraiser. The dinner was a recognition of the three year partnership between TAFE and Gateway Technical College’s exchange program, and the dinner was produced by the TAFE culinary and hospitality management students. At the dinner we met and dined with the Australian exchange students that would be arriving at Gateway in the fall. The gourmet food that was prepared by the students was exquisite with an Australian theme which included raw kangaroo and barramundi, a freshwater fish found in New South Wales. The evening was an absolute delight.

Tracy Bell

The second day was our first official day to see TAFE’s (Technical and Further Education) Wollongong campus. We first had a welcome meeting with the TAFE staff and administrators. It was such a great experience to learn about TAFE and the history behind their GTC partnership. Chinedu who was representing GTC spoke on behalf of the college and introduced Iliana, Theresa, and Jessica who also had a presentation to the TAFE team. It was a really great start to our Australian education experience.

Later, we were given a comprehensive tour of TAFE’s Wollongong campus.We began with a visit through the engineering/CNC, welding, automotive, and carpentry departments. In the carpentry department, they were building three sustainable living houses that were going to be eventually used on a campsite to rent out.

For lunch we went down to the harbour and had fish and chips. The whole day was extremely windy and due to the high winds in the area,  the landing site for skydivers was on the beach that was right next to us so we were able to watch them land while we ate. Afterwards, we drove up to a cafe on the edge of the beach to have some coffee, flat whites, and hot chocolate. While we were there, we discovered a unique marine pool that connected to the ocean! We saw children in wet suits diving into the waves crashing over the pool walls into the freezing ocean. This was unique for me, since I have never seen anything like this in the U.S. After our spot of coffee, we  drove up to the lookout point that they have right before you enter Wollongong. They had a cute little souvenir shop and a fantastic gelato place that we heard people drive hours to get to. We tasted their delicious gelato. We had samples and cups of creamy sweet gelato, some had salty butterscotch, some had watermelon sorbet, peach raspberry, and some had more coffee.

We drove back to campus and some of us took advantage of the free bus system to return to our host families. In all, a great start to our TAFE experience in the Gong (Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia).

Emily Pena

Our first day was fun, yet tiring.  We started out trip from O’Hare Airport on a slightly delayed flight to Texas. We made it to our connecting flight with plenty of time to get snacks and prepare for the 17 hour flight we were about to embark on. We took a few pictures as you can see. We kept ourselves busy by talking, reading, or taking advantage of the in-flight entertainment. Many of us were lucky enough to sleep most of the trip. The site seeing started immediately. Our goal was to stay awake the entire day at least until 7 or 8pm. This would allow us to align out sleep schedule with that of the Australian time zone.  Once we landed we took “shots” or Americans would say “pictures”, at the visitors’ center.  Upon arrival at the TAFE (Technical and Further Education) School, we met our team leaders. TAFE in NSW (New South Wales) was GTC’s partner school for the exchange program and responsible for planning all our educational activities for the next week. One by one, we met our host family and went off on our own excursions.  My host Debbie took to me on tour of the city and the beach before going “Home”.  My host family welcomed me into their home and made sure I was warm, my belly was full, and I knew my way around. This is my home away from home for the next few days and I am so grateful for my host family.

Cheers,

Iliana Gutierrez

Thank you for visiting our blog, the students are excited for their long flight to Sydney. We will be sure to take plenty of pictures along the way. Stay tuned…..Sunday is our arrival in Australia, and we are hoping for some sunshine. (The weather should be around 60-65 degrees)